Groupee:Thoughts on Popular Music
Reprinted from Groupee
Brooklyn’s Dead Leaf Echo has mastered the art of the shoegaze – and have utilized those skills to craft a new album, dubbed Truth, that is garnering just as many positive critical reviews as it is accumulating “civilian” fans. Mike DiLalla, Ana Breton, and frontman LG make up the vintage-meets-modern trio, who working to express their personalities and viewpoints through their music – and who are just as inspired by literature as they are by the music of others.
“Yes, we are very influenced by literature,” LG confirms, “this band concept started around Nabokov. But really overall it’s influenced by many different authors, from many time periods including prose, poetry, and drama; Romantic literature and existentialism both rank high among the personal list. These inspirations are constantly on rotation, constantly changing, varying from writers, composers, painters… all creators.”
Taking those influences – and their songs, of course – to The Bunker Studios, where Truth was recorded, the band worked with engineer John Davis and mixmaster John Fryer on the set, which was produced by LG himself.
“Live, the band plays as a five-piece,” LG explains, “but recording is great with less people as it’s easier to streamline the sessions.”
Dead Leaf Echo is also known for opening up their songs to a plethora of remixers – something many bands shy away from – and this process has both enhanced the band’s work and given them insight to their own songs that they otherwise may not have run across. That’s not to say it’s open season on DLE songs, though, so proceed with caution.
“Remixes are always encouraged, and direction is usually open regarding them,” LG says, “if someone approaches us that we’d feel can bring a fresh direction to the song, then they are encouraged to work on it. On the flip side, with the definitive versions of the songs that are on the albums, the mixes are supervised at a scrutinizing angle.”
Truth, LG says, is more than just anothers singles set, and definitely follows a theme. “Yes, the album like all of our albums is lyrically a concept album,” he says, “everything revolving around the ambitious and often ambiguous word Truth. In its simplest form it’s dealing with the word in relation to its counterpoint – Lies.”
Speaking of truth and lies – otherwise thought of by some as “The Music Business” – LG has plenty of thoughts on those matters, as well.
“Pop music is always evolving,” he says, “though the telescopic nature of that is now starting to slow – after the dramatic shift and rise in pop music since the late 50′s, the evolution is cyclical, just like the trends. Although trends culturally are also products of marketing, the natural evolution is hopefully a little more organic. I feel that the level of songwriting has dipped in the past 10 years, but only in relation to the prolific output that has been the past 40 years; it was bound to recess.”
“They said the same thing in the 80s, especially with digital technology becoming more available and used,” he continues, “they complained about it then, but the 80s don’t seem to be waning in popular culture now. Technology is both a boon and a hindrance to art; there’s always a different lag time for the particular medium, and it incorporates technology to meld. I remember everyone complaining in the 90s how bad it was too, but they did the same thing in the decade before, so really it’s all about hindsight when viewing the present. Viewing the present is not something you can do with nostalgia – it’s too fresh.”
LG further emphasizes that reflecting one’s personality in music is really “the only thing that’s going to keep music working to new ground” – he thinks that’s what will make it singular and original. “But manifesting that is not always easy for most people,” he agrees.
“In regards to improving popular music, the problem doesn’t have to do in the music itself but in the awareness and cultural depreciation of what is popular music,” he explains, “by making it a commodity, its value fluctuates based on quality. But who decides that? What it is based on? The level of the recording, how many chords it has in it? Your often comparing taste with proficiency,” he continues, “but it’s also based on demand.”
“The digital format kills that notion, because music as a supply is never-ending, and is consumed now and disposed of at a much higher rate at a much lower value… often for free.”
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